Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery

by Clifton A. Howes

Mr. Thornhill convinces himself by inspection that the first proposition is untenable; in fact its absurdity is at once apparent on a little thought, for the engraving of the original die is a laborious and costly piece of work, and that very fact, coupled with the comparative ease of exact reduplication by mechanical processes on the printing plate, furnishes the chief reason for the employment of this method of producing stamps. Since there is such

a variety in the size of the stamps, therefore, the first theory would indicate many original dies, and this we know was not the case. Its refutation indeed is seen in the stamps themselves; for each original die, if differing in size from its fellows, meant a separate engraving, and it is humanly impossible to make these separate engravings exact duplicates, whereas, on the other hand, no appreciable variation in line or dot can be detected on the same stamp in its different sizes save the general expansion or contraction of the design, which is proportionate in all its parts. The different die or matrix theory is therefore thrown out on grounds of impracticability and absurdity.

Accepting the one original die proposition, then, Mr. Thornhill agrees with Mr. Tapling in turning down the shrinkage of paper theory and favoring the second supposition, that the variation comes on the plates and is due to the process of transference. Let us glance at this a moment. The original die is engraved on a block of soft steel of very fine and even quality. When finished it is tempered to a very great degree of hardness. Next the engraving is transferred by tremendous pressure to a transferring roller of similar soft steel, which is in turn hardened. In this process there might be an opportunity for a slight variation in the size of the transferred impression, due to the expansion and contraction of the steel in the tempering process. Next, this hardened transfer roller is impressed upon the printing plate of soft steel as many times as there are copies desired. These naturally all agree among themselves and with the transfer roller impression in size. Now when the printing plate in turn receives its hardening, there may again be a chance for a slight difference between the transfer roller and the plate impressions; but it is wholly unlikely that the plate impressions will vary much among themselves, otherwise the perfection of Mr. Jacob Perkins' invention, the chief merit of which was exact reduplication, would be impaired. As a matter of fact, the high grade and even quality of the steel necessarily employed, and the care naturally taken in hardening the plate, preclude any other than an even variation, if any, due to the tempering process. This means that such variations would be practically constant over the printing surface of the plate, and that therefore the impressions would still remain practically identical in size.

Where, then, does this bring us? With such numerous and well defined variations in dimensions in the printed stamps, we should look for the cause in the simplest and most natural method by which they could readily be pro

duced, which is furnished by the third theory presented. Concerning this we quote from the London Philatelic Society's work on Ceylon:[44]—

In reference to the variations in the size of the stamps of Issues III and V [no watermark and Crown CC], Major Evans, who was the first to propound the theory that these variations were due to differences in the nature of the paper employed, writes as follows:—

"The theory of the expansion and contraction of the paper being now pretty generally accepted, as accounting for the variations observed in the size of the stamps of the early issues of Ceylon, it seems necessary to explain exactly what that theory is, and how these differences are supposed to arise. Previous to printing from plates engraved in taille-douce the paper is wetted, which, as is well known, causes it to expand; the amount of expansion varies, no doubt, considerably in different kinds of paper, and it must also vary with the amount of moisture in the same kind of paper, for as the paper dries it returns to its original dimensions, and, therefore, up to a certain point, the wetter it is the greater will be the expansion. In any case the paper is in a state of expansion at the time of printing, both from being wetted and from being stretched out flat and pressed, and the impression when first printed is then, and then only, in all cases the size of the engraving upon the plate. It then dries, and in so doing contracts, and the greater the amount of expansion the greater will be the amount of the subsequent contraction, so that the smallest stamps are those printed on the paper which expanded most, and the largest those on the paper which expanded least. The minor variations of size may be due to the paper being more or less damp when used, but probably a very slight difference in the thickness or density of the paper would cause some variation in its expansion. The marked difference in size of the stamps on thin, unwatermarked paper, which were the first to attract the attention of Philatelists, is no doubt due to that particular variety of paper, which is very tough and elastic, and which has been found to expand very greatly on being wetted and stretched."

So much for the Ceylon stamps, which we have discussed in extenso; but we have only to substitute in every case a reference to the first Canadian issues, particularly the 10d. which we started out with, to make the discussion apply with equal force in this case as in the other. The question is the same—the variations occur in the same way, the method of engraving and reproduction is the same, and the varieties in the paper are very similar.

Major Evans, in a reply to Mr. Thornhill's paper,[45] states that he tried some experiments in wetting a thin, tough note paper, and found an expansion of three per cent., while by stretching it he increased the expansion to eight per cent, without difficulty! Yet the greatest variation in Mr. Thornhill's table was only four per cent. Major Evans then tried some of the 1863

Newfoundland stamps, which he judged were on paper of almost the same nature as that of the unwatermarked Ceylons of the same year, and they gave precisely similar results.